


Poetry of Wolves

by Elysia45



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Also a big dork, Fane is just a big child, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Other, Solas is a forgetful old man, Some Humor, and wonderful, fight me, i still love him though, it's healthy, these two have a very odd relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:00:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28563945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elysia45/pseuds/Elysia45
Summary: Fane's odd passion for poetry usually gets him strange looks, but thankfully, a fellow elven apostate feels anything but strange by it.
Relationships: Lavellan/Solas (Dragon Age), Male Lavellan & Solas (Dragon Age)
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Did I just spend several days thinking of lyrical nonsense? Yes, yes I did. Enjoy the odd contradiction to Fane's character! He's just a soft boy, I swear.

Fane enjoyed poetry as much as he enjoyed most things really. With a restrained enthusiasm. It was something about the flow of words as they ticked to an invisible scale when each one sounded in his mind. It was the careful diversion of thoughts, wrapped in cryptic phrasing and soft beats. There was nothing else like it. At times, Fane would find himself accidentally speaking in such a way which would cause many of his companions and advisors to look at him in confusion until he managed to correct himself. The only ones that seemed to decipher his occasional cryptic thoughts were Solas and Cole. Cole, being a spirit, already spoke in such puzzling riddles that it was simple for him to card through Fane’s eloquent words. The spirit would simply search Fane’s feelings towards those words to piece together an explanation. While Solas spoke in much the same way at times. Using phrases as descriptions to the memories he’s witnessed and the emotions he’s felt within those memories. Generally, if Fane found himself speaking in such a way without much thought on correcting himself, Solas would attempt to translate for the rest. 

This was one such time those talents came in handy for Fane as he examined a particular set of runes that were etched along the stone walls of the latest elven ruin they were investigating. The place teemed with residual magic that made Fane’s stomach churn. The smell was  _ ancient _ . Like moss and mildew.

“Ugh, it smells like a bog. The scent holding memories within ancient stones. It’s nauseating.”, he said aloud, watching the runes glow faintly as magic would wisp by it. 

Heard Sera snort from behind as it followed with a dramatic groan.

“Oh, there you go again! Speaking like that  _ thing _ over there!”, Sera yelled, her voice echoing off the stone as she pointed towards Cole who was buzzing around curiously. 

Fane blinked before turning to look over his shoulder at Sera with a weak glare, letting his hand fall from where it had rested on his chin. He heard soft footsteps come from an adjacent room as Solas entered the room, having heard Sera’s boisterous voice easily.

“Is there a particular reason Sera’s voice has the whole structure shaking?”, Solas asked bluntly, ignoring the glare Sera threw his way.

Fane rolled his eyes as he looked back the glowing runes, trying to puzzle together where he had seen this particular pattern before. It was in the shape of a..well, it was round. A spiral, more like. It had branching lines that curved out from the main shape, several inches apart from it even. He hummed with a frustrated scowl. It was familiar, but what wasn’t with him? 

“Twirling rays. Sparkling arms as they reach. But where do they lead..?”, he muttered under his breath, furrowing his brow as he traced the curved lines as they appeared and disappeared along the grey stone wall.

His concentration broke as he heard Sera let out another groan at his words. Oops. He did it again, it seemed. Solas looked up from the new inscription he was reading with a confused look before he processed Fane’s words with a sigh towards Sera.

“He’s merely wondering if the runes lead towards something.”, Solas stated bluntly, turning back to his point of interest. 

Sera huffed as she crossed her arms, pointedly refusing to look at anything within the ruin since it was ‘elfy’. 

“Then why doesn’t he just say that?! Ugh!”, she scoffed in disgust, wiping her shoe on the stone with a grimace.

Fane rolled his eyes again before sighing heavily, turning from the rune to look at Sera with an annoyed glare.

“Could you look around instead of standing there like a petulant child? I want to make sure the Venatori don’t come marching in here and snatching up something they could manipulate. I’ll reign in the poetic lyrics if you do.”, he grumbled, a sneer twisting the corner of his lip upwards slightly. 

Fane watched as the elven girl's eyes brightened slightly before she groaned with obvious laziness before trudging off to an adjacent chamber.

“Fine! Ya better shut yer trap though! My head can’t follow that mush for any longer!”, Sera called as her footsteps became distant. 

Fane sighed heavily in exasperation before pinching the bridge of his nose with the throb of an oncoming headache. He understood Sera’s frustration, truly he did, but his words weren’t something he had control over most of the time. Either they were guided by rage or poetic scale. Poetry had been his escape since he was little, along with his woodcrafting. Honestly, his mother had been the one to kindle that passion in him. She had read to him just before she put him to bed from her own book of poetry. She had adored that book with such a reverent expression, like the leather bound paper was also a child to her. Fane remembered questioning his mother once about why she loved poetry so much, but mainly why she had such passion to begin with. He’ll never forget her gently delivered words when she had simply smiled sweetly at him as cerulean eyes shimmered.

“ _ A passion is like a flower, da’len. If you nourish it and tend to it, it will grow into a proud and beautiful bloom. But if you leave it thirsty for water and wilting in sun that is much too hot, it will wither away, crumbling into dust to be swept away with the wind like a dream you desperately try to cling to as you awaken. Growth in all things is what makes you an individual, Fane. You are the flower who can reach into the sky if you broaden your outlook, or you can crumble under pressure and despair, flying away until you are naught but a distant memory. _ ”, he recalled his mother’s cryptic words with fondness and a yearning nostalgia.

He hadn’t understood his mother at the time, too young and too perplexed by the flowing eloquence, but now, he thought he understood those words more clearly. In simplistic terms, his mother had said will, “Will you follow what your heart desires and let it shape you into a person of worth or will you toss those desires aside because you couldn’t be bothered, destined to then become a distant memory as the world witnessed none of your individual talents? He could grow or he could wilt away. Passion was a delicate balance of too little and too much. If your passion became an obsession, you would be dictated by it for the rest of your life, allowing it to determine every aspect of your life and choices. If you cared too little for your passion, then it will flit away as quickly as it came, dissolving into a pastime that you pursue on a whim, not truly nurturing it to its fullest potential. Passion led to growth, growth led to change. Fane had decided a long time ago to grow and to change, but that had been before the experiments stripped his emotions away to a whisper. It hadn’t been until his father had disappeared that he latched onto old hobbies again. However, he had found he appreciated the gift of poetry even more, now that he could truly understand it. Though, now it seemed it did more than just understand it. 

“Burning, lyrical, flowing. Cherished like the shimmer of the sea as they smile at me. I want to carry on her memory. Her voice as it wrapped around words of song.”, he heard Cole say suddenly, both he and Solas looking towards the riddling spirit. 

Solas tilted his head with a curious expression as Fane merely sighed in understanding. 

“Her eyes were like the sea. They would burn with such gentle passion when she would read to me. The least I can do is continue her tradition.”, he said softly, watching as Cole lifted his brimmed hatted head to look up at him from where he was sitting with a glowing rock. 

Cole gave him a somber smile as he turned the rock around in his hands, the glow pulsating as he did so.

“You are her. Even if you don’t look like her anymore.”, Cole told him simply, looking back down at his rock. 

Fane blinked slowly at the spirit’s words as a wave of emotion flooded his chest with tightness. Ah, leave it to Cole to find those buried feelings of his like they were just on the surface. 

“I see..”, he whispered to himself, feeling Solas looking at him with concern. 

He had always prided himself on sharing his mother’s platinum blonde hair when he was younger. She had always called him her ‘little fawn’. He loved that endearment even though when he was younger he would whine about it. Now, he was a halla, pure white and lost. Fane tapped his hand against his arm from where his arms were crossed against his chest as he turned from the spirit, looking at the runes absently. 

“Inquisitor..?”, he heard Solas whisper to him so that only the two of them could hear.

Fane glanced down quickly to acknowledge Solas before looking back at the runes, his posture rigid with the ache of grief. He thought he had moved past his mother’s death, but it seemed he hadn’t. He missed her sweet smile when he would bring her a gift, be it flower or a rock. He missed the smell of her clothing, lilac and citrus. He missed the shimmering ocean of blue that were her loving eyes, never hardening into rigid stone. He missed  _ her _ . 

“Fane.”, Solas tried once more to reach him, standing from where he was crouched down to look down into Fane’s emerald eyes. 

Fane averted his gaze slightly, gripping his leather coat softly. He didn’t mean to ignore the elf, but he didn’t want Solas to see this right now. They needed to be alert, not wallowing in grief.

“It pisses me off that you’re taller than me.”, Fane grumbled out, trying to deflect with humor.

Solas blinked at him before frowning. Fane cursed to himself softly, sighing quietly. Well, that went as well as he had expected. No one ever accused him of being funny, after all. A cool hand came up to rest against his shoulder, the soothing chilliness being felt even through his thick coat. 

“Fane, look at me.”, Solas whispered to him firmly.

Fane sighed again, looking up into Solas’s stormy eyes with a weak glare. Of course, the elf was looking at him with a deep worry mixed in his gaze. He hated causing that in the elven mage. He already saw enough pain within those orbs, he didn’t need to be the cause of it this time. 

“Later, Solas. Not here.”, he said curtly, shrugging the elf’s hand from his shoulder to turn back towards the rune as it illuminated their bodies with its faint glow.

He felt Solas stare at him for several moments more before he heard his soft footsteps disappear into the room the mage had previously been in before all the commotion. Fane felt a hint of despair wedge itself in his chest at Solas’s departure. He hadn’t meant to push the man away like that. It just wasn’t the right place or the right time to have a private discussion. With another heavy sigh, Fane rubbed at his tired face. He would have to apologize later. He would.

A thought struck him as he looked back down at the compassionate spirit who was still twirling the glowing rock in his hand. Fane’s eyes widened as he hurriedly stepped over to Cole, who looked up at the sound of his approach.

“Hey, Cole. Can I see your rock? I think it’ll solve this little puzzle that this ruin has set.”, Fane asked with a slight smile, reaching his hand down in offering. 

Cole blinked as he looked at the rock and the rune on the wall before nodding quickly, laying the glowing stone in Fane’s hand.

“It sings like the rune.”, Cole said simply, slowly rising up to stand. 

Fane smiled more at that, clasping the stone close to his chest.

“Like a beating heart in the center of the sun.”, the metaphor spilled out unbidden from his lips as Cole nodded happily. 

Fane opened his closed hand to watch the pulsating lines that glowed on the black stone. 

“ _ Yes, like a heart. The soul. _ ”, he thought to himself, walking over to the runes with a faint smile. 


	2. Chapter 2

“Solas?”, Fane called out to the elf as he carefully approached him that night when the party had returned to camp.

Fane’s little idea with Cole’s rock had paid off since the stone had fit perfectly into an indentation in the center of the spiral. It had illuminated the entire room in blue and green light as magic that had been sealed for ages finally released. It had been beautiful. Well, Fane  _ had _ thought so before he ended retching onto the ground as the smell nearly sent him to the ground. 

“ _ Ewww! That’s disgusting! Is he going to be okay?!”,  _ he recalled Sera’s childish disgust at the display. 

Sera had still managed to show some concern from his illness, but he had been too busy heaving onto the ground to even shoot the elven girl a weak glare for her childishness. 

“ _ Sera.  _ **_Please_ ** _. He will be fine. Shouting like that is not helping matters.”,  _ Solas had scolded the disgusted woman with a stern glare of his own as he tried to keep Fane stable with Cole, whispering soothing elvish to him. 

“ _ The magic sings too loudly for him. It makes it hard to breathe, to  _ **_feel_ ** .  _ He doesn’t know if he’s here or there.”,  _ Cole had chimed in with his own brand of concern which had made Fane want to dig a hole in the ground so that he may have  _ silence _ .

The memory was an embarrassing one if anything. Sera’s continued shouts as he deposited more fluid, Solas’s waning patience with the elven girl as he tried to keep Fane awake, and Cole muttering his feelings under his breath like a mantra. It had all been a nightmare. Usually, he had better control and could keep the contents of his stomach in place when they were out on the road, but that magic had been potent. However, the prizes had been worth it. A few scrolls, some gold, and various artifacts had been sealed in stone. One thing in particular had been interesting to Fane, actually. Which was what he was approaching the elven mage, who was seated on the log by the fire, about. Oh, and he had to apologize. That was the most important and the most difficult. Solas looked up from a scroll he was reading, presumably from the ruin as well, as a small smile graced his lips at the sight of Fane. 

“ _ Well, that’s a good sign. Maybe he’s not too miffed then.”, _ Fane thought idly as he thumbed at the item in his pocket.

“Yes?”, Solas responded gently, carefully rolling the scroll back up to place it in his pack for later. 

Fane motioned for Solas to scoot over on the log, which he did without hesitation. The action made Fane chuckle quietly as he gingerly sat down next to Solas, resting his elbows on his knees as he gazed into the fire, Cole and Sera having retired for the night as the two elves had decided to take first watch.

“I wanted to..apologize for earlier.”, he started slowly, threading his fingers together as he watched the flames lick at the air as they rose and broke. 

He caught Solas’s furrowed brow from the corner of his eye, noticing the elf’s expression turn into a confused frown. 

“Fane, I understand the effects magic has on you. You do not need to apologize for that.”, Solas told him as he leaned forward to draw Fane’s gaze his way. 

Fane blinked as he jerked his head back towards Solas who then blinked as his sudden movement. Wait..had Solas forgotten? Had he just forgotten Fane’s curtness with him before that?

“Huh? Magic..? No, Solas! I..I didn’t mean that..”, he stuttered out with a slight blush at his lack of adequate words, squeezing his hands together softly.

At the look of utter confusion on Solas’s face, Fane sighed heavily, hanging his head low, his short strands of hair nicking the pointed tips of his ears. This old man.. Solas was fiendishly clever at the best of times, but he still had these moments of utter forgetfulness that made Fane want to rip his hair out since explaining his feelings was hard in the first place. And repeating them was even harder!

“I..I meant when I..snapped at you earlier. After Cole had said what he said...”, he managed to explain, letting out a deep breath as he did so. 

Hopefully, Solas would get it this time. Fane couldn’t make it more simple, honestly. Words were only easy for him when he was working out a puzzle. Outside of ruins, he was..simple, to put it nicely. If simple was bursting out in rage at every little inconvenience. But truly? It was strange that since joining the Inquisition, he had found a certain fascination with uncovering his people’s past. When it was just him and Mhairi back in the clan, Fane had pointedly stayed away from anything to do with his ancestors. He saw no point in it. They were elves who were long since dead and buried. They didn’t care if he found their lives interesting. However, the more texts and runes that he uncovered, the more he found himself being drawn into their world. Perhaps it was the feeling of unearthing the unknown, or..? Or it was the scriptures.. The flowing words and gentle cadence of his voice as he murmured them made him feel a deep yearning in his heart. It was poetry, plain and simple, yet not at all. Like his mother’s.. 

The memory of his mother made him grimace as he jerked his head to the side to glare at the dark nothingness as night surrounded them. A cool hand resting itself on his back had him tensing up slightly before he relaxed at who he knew it was.

“Sorry. Did you say something? I was lost in my head again..”, Fane murmured, rubbing his face with a leather wrapped hand, the feeling making his skin itch, but also grounding him.

Solas was looking at him with a gentle understanding as the mage’s hand drifted back to his own lap. 

“I was merely explaining that I did not consider what you said to be hurtful. You were asking for space. I could tell Cole’s words had upset you, but I still pushed. Perhaps, too hard. I was..”, Solas told him, his words trailing off as he turned his gaze into the fire. 

Fane looked up as Solas’s words were left unfinished, feeling his chest seize at the look of soft tenderness in Solas’s eyes as stormy blue mixed with the warm orange of the campfire. 

“ _ W..What? What’s that look..?” _ , he questioned the meaning behind Solas’s tender gaze, feeling his hands clench and unclench from where they hung limply between his legs. 

Fane has seen that look of utter affection in Solas’s eyes from time to time. However, the elder elf would only seem to let his guard down when he thought Fane wasn’t paying attention. Fane could see affection in those usually still steel blue eyes, unguarded longing for something he could not begin to imagine. It made Fane  _ ache _ with the need to reach out towards the usually sorrowful mage. 

“ _ I want to erase that pain.. Guide it away so that it may rest.. Wash it away like the rain erodes the cliffside.. I want the careful wall to crumble like ash..” _ , he thought as his eyes became hooded, the emerald softening from its usual piercing depth of color. 

Solas could probably feel his piercing gaze as he looked back at the snowy haired elf, blinking slowly at his expression. Fane saw the tenderness that was in Solas’s gaze moments before dissolving into a hard mask once more, leaving him feeling a pain that was unlike anything his father could have ever inflicted on his body. Why did Solas continue to put a wall between them? Was he ashamed? Was it guilt? Fane sighed softly as he decided to throw caution to the wind for a moment. With a long scoot towards the elven mage, Fane rested their shoulders together, gingerly placing his head on the top of Solas’s shoulder. He felt Solas tense slightly for a moment before seeming to give up, resting some of his weight against Fane’s own. The action made Fane smile slightly, the corners of his mouth merely twitching.

“You were worried about me.”, Fane finished for the elven mage softly, letting his eyes rest on the flickering flames as they danced in the air.

A soft sigh jostled the warrior elf slightly as Solas let it out, his own eyes fixating themselves on the flames once more. 

“I was. You invoke that reaction within me more often than not.”, Solas murmured quietly, his head slowly coming to rest atop of Fane’s, the young elf’s snowy hair brushing against the mage’s cheek softly, “Among many others..”, Solas whispered a few moments after, Fane not hearing the words despite being against him.

Fane moved closer at the sound of Solas’s voice, letting the gentle cadence of it wash over him like a blanket. Solas’s voice was like the incarnations of the poems he would read and recite. It had the same measured scale, lilting tone, and eloquent words that wrapped what he said behind a veil. It was a tender song, an echo of a world for which Fane could not recall. He felt his body envelope in careful warmth, the pain of his scars a faint buzz as he relished in the feeling of Solas’s body against his own.

“ _ Your fortress is strong from the stones you build it with. Anchor it with the blood red bricks of the past, decorate your halls with the simple grey granite of the present, and fortify it with the glimmering marble of the future as each molds together with the song of ages. Time is the nexus for which each is bound. Do not reject the present because it is unlike the past. Do not dread the future because it is shaped by the present. Do not mourn for the past because it is more familiar than the future. Embrace each with an eager hand as they reveal themselves to you _ .”, Fane whispered tenderly to the air in elvish, the gentle syllables tickling his tongue and mind with a fond feeling of warmth.

As Fane let the words slip past his lips, he felt slender, but strong fingers thread into his hair at the back of his head with an urge of desperation. He blinked in mild surprise before he felt the fingers begin to massage his scalp slowly, his emerald eyes becoming hooded once more with a quiet hum. He felt Solas slowly nuzzle into his snowy fine hair as the elven mage took a deep breath. Fane leaned his weight more completely into Solas which the man took easily as his grip in his hair became more tender. If this was what bliss felt like, then Fane wanted to bottle it up and drink it daily. The slow movements of Solas’s fingers in his hair, as they stroke away the pain of a constant headache, made him want to fly away. The feeling of a sharp nose burying its way into his messy hair made him crave warmth that a simple fire could not give him. This reaction from Solas should have unnerved him, but it only made him yearn for more. Had his words truly shaken Solas into behaving in such an affectionate way? It had simply been one of his mother’s elegantly conscripted stanzas. It was a gentle way of portraying that no matter what the past was, what the present is, or what the future will be it would all align itself in the end. You could not dwell on the past because of the fear of change. You could not turn from the present because you wished for the memories of better days. You could not fear the future because of the uncertainty it brought. You had to reach for each and work with what was given to shape each yourself. In turn, they would then open themselves to you.

Fane felt a soft nuzzle to his pointed ear which drew him from himself, a soft sound escaping from throat. He looked up at the elf who had been the source with a weak glare. Solas merely greeted his glare with that unguarded tender look that Fane only saw when the mage was alone. The sight nearly made him pass out. At his dumbfounded expression, Solas chuckled quietly, resuming his gentle strokes in Fane’s snowy hair.

“Apologies. Your words are..deeply profound. They stir emotions that I did not think still existed within me.”, Solas murmured quietly to him, the sharper features of his face illuminated by the shadows cast by the gentle fire.

Fane just stared up at the taller elf, feeling his face heat up slightly with a faint blush. When had he started to feel this way about the enigmatic elf? Had it been when Solas had first reached out to him with a gesture of kindness as simple as a potion? Had it been when Fane saw the look of unrestrained horror on the elf’s face as the fires that had engulfed Haven surrounded him as well. Had it been more simple? Casual conversations at night, a minor gift left on a desk, a faint smile cracking the mask that was his face? Fane would probably never know when he had begun to feel this..this  _ longing _ for the man who was so strangely familiar to him since the beginning. He just knew that that was what he felt. It was strong and  _ real _ . 

“Real..”, he whispered to himself, his voice sounding strange to his pointed ears with how tender it was. 

He saw Solas’s expression twist into soft confusion at Fane’s whisper, tilting his head slightly to see into golden emerald eyes. 

“Fane..?”, Solas called to him softly, his other hand almost coming up to touch his cheek, but flinched back before he could complete the action.

Fane’s eyes widened as he saw the retreating hand. No! He didn’t want Solas to hide from him! He wanted him to open himself to what he felt! He didn’t want him thinking Fane would continuously get angry with a touch! With a desperate grab at Solas’s retreat hand, Fane pulled it to rest on his cheek completely, squeezing his eyes shut tightly as the coolness washed over his ridiculously warm body. 

“We are  _ real _ , Solas. We are  _ felt _ . We can  _ feel _ . So, please, let me see it. Don’t hide in the past. Don’t resent the present. Don’t even think of the future. Don’t let it be a thinly veiled dream that could disappear.. ”, he said with a broken face as his eyebrows twitched with intense emotion, nuzzling into the palm of Solas’s hand slowly. 

Fane cracked his eyes open to see Solas’s mouth slightly open with a shocked expression before there was a shift in emotion in his blue eyes. Fane swallowed back a lump in his throat at the hard look in Solas’s eyes. Had he messed up? He didn’t mean to spout nonsense or even to grab at the mage like that, but his mind had just wanted to reach out. He didn’t understand it. He understood none of what he was feeling lately. Feeling embarrassed by his outburst, Fane went to pull away from Solas’s still hand, but the elven mage suddenly grabbed his arms and pulled him into a crushing hug. Fane blinked in surprise as he felt Solas bury his face in his shoulder. 

“This isn’t a dream.”, he heard Solas whisper, detecting a hint of pain laced within the mage’s voice.

Fane felt the air leave his lungs as he gasped softly, immediately reaching up to claw at the back of Solas’s tunic, burying his own face in the cotton. That’s right. This wasn’t a dream. Fane was awake,  _ alive _ . He was not adrift like when magic would invade his senses and make him feel ethereal. He was grounded, whole, and stable. And so was Solas even if the man seemed to teem with that weightlessness that Fane felt sick from. It was as if Solas wanted to be forgotten, left to drift away with his pain being the only thing keeping him grounded to the world. Fane wouldn’t let him be just a memory. He wouldn’t let the man be tethered by pain from a past he knew nothing of. 

As Fane lifted his head to look up into Solas’s eyes, he felt an odd feeling wash over him when he saw the utter look of..love in the mage’s usually hard eyes. He thinks he probably had the same look in his own emerald eyes as the gold glittered with the emotion. 

“I..I’m not familiar with these feelings, you know? It’s always been anger and agony. So..I’m sorry if my words strike a nerve. I’ve never..um..cared for anyone beyond my sister..”, Fane muttered out as he brought his hands back to rest on Solas’s chest, idly plucking at a few loose threads like a mother grooming their child.

Solas watched him with fond interest as he eased the tightness of his hug, letting his arms slide down to loosely wrap around Fane’s waist. 

“Are you saying you care for  _ me _ , Inquisitor?”, Solas teased him quietly, but Fane could see a look of wary hope in Solas’s tender expression.

Fane drew his mouth into a hard line at the teasing as he looked down to where his hands were continuing to groom, casually shrugging his shoulders.

“No. Simply made it a fact that I care for no one but my sister. I actually hate you.”, Fane teased back, a smirk threatening to form on his blank face.

Solas stiffened for a brief moment before a soft laugh sounded in Fane’s ears. The sound made him finally break out into a tiny smirk from how nice it sounded. 

“It’s the height, isn’t it? You would truly hate me for that?”, Solas said as he chuckled continuously, his arms gently pulling the sturdy elf closer.

Fane shrugged again as he finally looked up, learning up to get in Solas’s face with the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.

“It’s a very serious thing. Not many elves are taller than me.”, Fane stated simply, leveling the elf with a teasing glare.

Solas hummed as he gingerly rested his forehead against Fane’s, making the snowy haired elf blush faintly at the closeness. The mage tilted his head slightly, Fane’s eyes darting around softly to avoid the intensity of Solas’s own.

“Hmm, I believe you have a bit of a complex,  _ da’len. _ ”, Solas murmured softly, following Fane’s eyes with his own slowly.

Fane cleared his throat awkwardly as he felt Solas pull him flush against his chest, having to lower his head a bit to keep his gaze averted. Creators, this was a difficult situation. On one hand, Fane wanted to drown in this heady feeling of heat and tension. On another hand, he wanted to pull away and hide from that knowing gaze. It was such a conglomeration of emotions that he didn’t know what he really wanted. 

“This is the last time I speak philosophical poetry around you..”, Fane grumbled shyly, scowling at the feeling since it was strange to him. 

He felt cool hands come up to cup his face tenderly, forcing Fane to look at the elven man in front of him with a weak glare. 

“That is a rather cruel punishment, don’t you think, lethallin? I suppose I deserve it..”, Solas joked with him softly, but Fane saw the glimmer of pain in his eyes when a thumb traced a vine of his vallaslin absently.

There was that pain again. Fane grimaced as a growl tore from his lips. No. No more of that. He flung his arms around Solas’s neck and pulled roughly, their faces barely inches apart as Fane’s eyes flash with gold and jade. Solas’s arms wrap around him instinctively as he blinked in shock at the sudden shift in Fane’s demeanor.

“You..you..”, Fane growled deeply before squeezing his eyes shut with the emotions coursing through him, finally just giving in to the one desire that has been running through his mind since he saw that look of pain and longing in Solas’s eyes, “You are a fool that is too clever for his own good, but..that doesn’t stop me from..from  _ caring  _ for you. You deserve nothing but happiness. So, no more pain. Just for tonight.”, he finished as he choked on his own words, his face heating up immediately from the blush that now coated it.

Fane felt Solas shift slowly as he cracked his emerald eyes open slightly. As Fane slowly went to lift his head up, not realizing he had lowered it to rest against Solas’s chin, he felt Solas swoop down and crash their lips together in a fiery kiss. Emerald orbs went wide as Fane felt his arms twitch from where they were looped around Solas’s neck. Solas was..kissing him? He..he really was, wasn’t he?! Fane squeezed his eyes shut as Solas pulled the warrior elf closer, completely taking the lead since the younger elf was too shocked to even try. Not that Fane could anyways, since he had never even touched another person in an intimate way before. Honestly, it was surprising he even knew what a kiss  _ was _ . As the kiss intensified, Fane felt his head going dizzy with the lack of air as he felt Solas nip at his bottom lip. With a rough push, Fane managed to break the two of them apart with a labored gasp, his face flushed all the way to his ears with a blush. 

“C..Can’t..breathe..”, Fane panted out as he leaned against the taller elf, shaking slightly from the nervous energy coursing through his body. 

Fane watched as Solas’s face morphed from unrestrained want to deep concern in an insistence at the state that the emerald eyed elf was in. 

“I..apologize. I hadn’t meant to.. That was a mistake..”, Solas whispered out, averting his gaze as Fane saw the muscle in his jaw tense and untense.

A mistake? That hadn’t been a mistake to Fane! He just wasn’t prepared! However, that had been what made it so..raw. So perfect! Fane couldn’t remember a time where he felt such a yearning for someone to touch him! With a furious shake of his snowy head, Fane leaned up to nudge at Solas’s tensed jaw. 

“Again..”, Fane pleaded with the elder mage softly, “Again, Solas..”, he repeated in elvish, his face on fire with embarrassment at how needy he was being, but he couldn’t help it.

He felt Solas tilt his head down slightly at the sound of Fane’s tone before the man let out a soft sigh, carding a hand through Fane’s snowy locks. 

“Breathe through your nose. Slowly.”, Solas instructed him as he gently took a hold of Fane’s jaw with his free hand, tilting it slightly.

Fane swallowed nervously before nodding once. He could do that. Yup. No problem.

He heard Solas tsk softly as he laid a barely noticeable kiss against Fane’s pale cheek.

“Close your eyes, da’len.”, Solas instructed once more since Fane’s emerald orbs were blown wide open. 

Fane’s eyes closed slightly at the feeling of Solas’s kiss on his cheek, warmth fogging his mind as his body felt weak. This was such an odd sensation, but he found he was  _ starving _ for it. It was uncomfortable, but also addicting. Like an overly sweet candy. Another warm kiss landed closer to his lips as his eyes slipped completely shut, hands digging into cotton as he shook with anticipation. He felt the rumble of Solas’s chest as the elf chuckled deeply.

“Relax, Fane. Think of it as poetry. Let it flow in time with your movements.”, Solas instructed him one last time before sealing their lips together tenderly this time.

The minute Fane felt the warmth of Solas’s lips against his own, his whole mind melted into muted colors of gold and white. He let Solas lead him gently, allowing the elf to tilt his head when he needed to. Fane released a gentle sigh through his nose as he felt his own lips beginning to fall into an instinctual rhythm with Solas’s own. He heard Solas give a quiet hum of approval at Fane’s cooperation, releasing the elf’s jaw to let him move on his own. 

“ _ It kinda is like poetry..” _ , Fane thought absently as he experimentally flicked the tip of his tongue against Solas’s bottom lip.

Their lips moved to an invisible scale as warmth cascaded his body like lyrical words whispering of emotions and need. Their pace ebbed and flowed to an intensity of impactful words as a writer tried to project that same emotion through simple phrasing. Their kiss was the tool for poetry while the emotions behind it was the muse. It was truly a beautiful thing if phrased in that way. Fane felt Solas massage a finger into the base of his neck. He let out a gently gasp at that from the sensitivity as he tilted his head back slightly, opening his eyes minutely to see Solas smiling tenderly at him. All the pain that had previously been displayed was replaced with soft desire as Solas gazed at him. Fane felt emotion well up inside him as he extracted an arm from its place around Solas’s neck to delicately trace a pattern on the mage’s sharp jaw.

_ “Like a seedling, you grow. Seeking a warmth you have never known. Like a sprout, you thirst. Seeking a spring buried in the earth. Like a bloom, you flower. Seeking a love from atop your lofty tower _ .”, Fane murmured reverently in elvish, his gaze becoming glassy with a yearning desire.

Solas gazed him lovingly at the sound of the elvish dripping from his tongue. 

“Did you think of that just now?”, Solas asked him with a look of soft wonder in his eyes as well as a look of nostalgia which piqued Fane’s interest.

Fane hummed quietly with a gentle nod as he continued to trace his fingers along Solas’s jaw. The kiss had left him feeling weightless, but yet grounded. Almost as if he was between here and the Fade. Usually, that kind of feeling would terrify him, but with Solas..he felt it was as natural as breathing.

“ _ Flowers bloom and flowers fade. Their gentle petals weep and bade. As they flutter down to the open ground, a calming song can be found. A song of love. A song of loss. The petals slumber beneath the moss.” _ , he murmured out another sporadic poem, his mind feeling calm for the first time in months.

Fane looked up into Solas’s tender gaze as the apostate seemed to revel in his lyrical voice. A soft blush formed on his cheeks as he let his fingers fall from Solas’s jaw, instead tapping against the man’s chest idly. 

“Or something..”, Fane muttered shyly, only now realizing he had been spouting off whatever had come to mind to express his feelings. 

Solas laughed at that as he smiled fondly at the young elf in his arms. 

“You are something special, lethallin.”, Solas said to him with reverence, his thumb idly stroking Fane’s lower back. 

Fane scoffed at that softly as a smile threatened to crack his small scowl of embarrassment. He was special, huh? No one had ever used that term to describe his oddities before. Fane doesn’t know why, but that makes him feel..happy. It feels like his heart could burst just with that small feeling alone. 

Heart..

He’d forgotten what else he’d come to talk to Solas about! Fane blinked before pushing off the elven mage to rummage around his pack. Solas braced himself on the log from Fane’s shover, his eyebrow raising in confusion as he tried to see what the younger elf was doing. 

“Ah-ha!”, Fane cried out in triumph as he turned back to the bewildered elven mage with an uncharacteristically gentle smile, “Here. I..um. I made this.”, he said softly, glaring at the ground with embarrassment as he held out a small stone wolf figurine that glowed faintly with green and blue cracks.

Solas blinked at the small sculpture before reaching out to hold it in the palm of his hand, his eyes going wide with gentle wonder.

“How did you..?”, Solas started to ask before the glow flowed up, the eyes flickering on the small wolf before dimming back down.

Fane shrugged as he shut the small pouch attached to his hip. He had made that carving from the stone that had unlocked the cache in the temple. Thankfully, nothing horrible had happened when he dislodged it, so he figured it would be okay to carve. The stone had been difficult since it was a much different medium than softwood, but he used the same techniques which he thought made the piece come out passable. He did have to take small breaks between carving though since the magic imbued in the hard material made him nauseous, but it had only taken him a few hours, surprisingly.

“I just..treated it like wood. Obviously harder, but not too different if you have the skill. The more I carved, the more runes showed. So, I decided to show you so you could study them if you wanted to. If not..then I can take it back or you could..um..keep it? As a gift..?”, Fane asked carefully, his back turned from Solas so he didn’t have to see rejection if there was any.

In actuality, Fane had started the whole thing because he  _ wanted _ to give the small figurine to Solas. The runes had just provided him with a better excuse to hide his embarrassment and social awkwardness with these types of things. Just as Fane was about to turn back around he felt warm arms wrap around him from behind. He blinked slowly as he glanced back to see Solas burying his face in Fane’s shoulder, one of his hands grasping the figurine tightly. As the shock wore off, Fane let a tender smile grace his lips for once as he patted one of Solas’s arms with a hand.

“I’m guessing it’s not too crudely crafted for you?”, Fane teased softly, leaning back into the man wrapped around him a bit. 

Solas merely shook his head, face still buried as he pulled Fane back against his chest. Fane chuckled quietly as he closed his eyes, relishing in the quiet night air and the warmth of Solas’s embrace. 

“Two wolves hunt, two wolves prowl. Two wolves make a silent vow. Always alone, but always free. Never letting Pride see their hearts bleed. Loneliness echoes, loneliness pervades. Two lupine hearts pound and pound. Pounding of fear, the hunter hunting. Pounding of longing, a sorrowful gaze as it searches the maze. One dies to hunter steel as metal sings out with painful zeal. Another kneels from sorrow, as it feels the other’s soul fade to where it cannot follow. Wolven howls fill the sky, longing for the other to answer their cry. The die is cast. The die is rolled. The final bell has been tolled. Two wolves cry, two wolves lay down. One of the Fade. One of the Earth. Two wolves make a silent vow. Always alone, but always free. Never letting Pride hear their sorrowful pleas. Loneliness echoes, loneliness pervades. Two lupine hearts yearn for the dawning of new days. As the dawn prevails, two wolves rise. Once weakened legs break into loping strides. One glides along the shattered dreams of an age, black as night. Another pivots between the mountain range, shimmering white. They bound. They stride. They hold their heads up high. Never alone, always free. Never letting Pride take away the joy they need. Joy echoes, joy pervades. Two lupine hearts embrace the dawning day.”, Fane recited with tenderness as he opened his eyes to stare up at the sea of stars as they twinkled against the black canvas of the endless sky. 

Fane felt Solas’s head lift slightly from his shoulder, golden emerald eyes never leaving the boundless sky. He reached a gloved hand up to softly pat the mage’s bald head before resting it back against one of the arms tightly wrapped around his middle. 

“We are the wolves among hunters, Solas. And will not fall to blade or political machination. We will have a dawn. No matter the cost.”, Fane said simply, his eyes burning with quiet determination. 

He felt Solas shift carefully before a searing kiss was placed just below where his ear connected to his head. Fane felt a quiet moan slip past his lips before slamming his hands over his mouth with a crimson blush painting his face. That little..! The furious elf turned to give Solas a piece of his mind until he saw the radiant look of adoration smelting his stormy eyes, a large smile plastered on his face.

“I wish for nothing more than to greet that new dawn with you. In whatever form it may take.”, Solas said to him tenderly, gently pulling Fane to rest against him once more, “Ma vhenan..”, he heard Solas whisper into his hair sweetly, his crimson blush deepening at the endearment.

Fane wanted to feel angry or even embarrassed, but all he could feel in that moment was love, pure and simple. Wrapped in the warmth of steady arms, and the delicate buzz of midnight crickets tickling his pointed ears, all Fane could think of was the beauty of poetry and the emotions it invoked. However, he didn’t need any eloquent phrases or hidden meanings for what he wanted to say. No, he simply needed those two words.

“Ma vhenan.”, Fane responded back quietly, closing his eyes to the feeling of rushing warmth. 

Love. That word had enough power to put all other scaled words to rest. It was simple. It was pure. It was real. Real, just as they were and would always be. Real as the heart. Real as the soul. Real as the wolves who have finally come home. Greeting their dawn as it rose their way. 


End file.
